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Speaker 1: I too would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of

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Speaker 1: the land on which we meet and pay respects to

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Speaker 1: their elders past and present. Thank you to Patty, to

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Speaker 1: Lauren and Matthew for the opportunity to speak of Bert,

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Speaker 1: and if I can be so bold, I speak on

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Speaker 1: behalf of those who worked with him, who loved watching

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Speaker 1: Bert over a lifetime in show business. As the consummate

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Speaker 1: compare and entertainer, I have the impossible job of condensing

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Speaker 1: our feelings for Bert and his legacy into four point

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Speaker 1: five minutes according.

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Speaker 2: To the Office of Protocol.

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Speaker 1: But as Bert would say, well, we're live and I

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Speaker 1: have the microphone, so we won't go a bit longer.

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Speaker 2: Here gays.

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Speaker 1: Albert Watson Newton am mbe. To Graham Kennedy, he was Herbie.

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Speaker 1: To Don Lane, he was Moonface, and to all of

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Speaker 1: us he was our Bert. Today we're honor his life

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Speaker 1: of the state funeral and Premier Andrews Paddy has asked

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Speaker 1: and the family have asked for me to pass on

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Speaker 1: gratitude to you and the State of Victoria for bestowing

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Speaker 1: sign Since Bert's passing, there has been recognition of his

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Speaker 1: incomparable comparing and performances. But what has really been underlined

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Speaker 1: from story after story is Bert's amazing generosity of spirit

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Speaker 1: on camera, on stage, behind the microphone. Bert Newton gave

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Speaker 1: himself to make a show, work a segment, pop make

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Speaker 1: his colleagues look as good as they could be, to

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Speaker 1: give everything for his beloved audience. Friend and colleague Peter

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Speaker 1: Ford was one of the many stories of Burt's generosity,

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Speaker 1: of his no bliss so bleege to who much is given.

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Speaker 2: Much is expected, and Bert never forgotten.

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Speaker 1: Peter told the story sworn a secretcy until Bert said

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Speaker 1: he'd character it of Bert hearing of a man dying

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Speaker 1: of HIV AIDS at a time when sufferers was stigmatized

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Speaker 1: and isolated. Not only did Bert visit and spend hours

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Speaker 1: with every person in the ward, gave the man one

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Speaker 1: of his beloved gold logis an amazing gesture, one that

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Speaker 1: lifted the morale of all in the depths of their despair.

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Speaker 1: Were the only reward being that Bert gave those on

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Speaker 1: their worst day something to remember as their best. Patty

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Speaker 1: had never heard the story until last week when Peter

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Speaker 1: broke it. It did, however, go some way to solve

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Speaker 1: a family mystery Bert had won some thirty six logis

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Speaker 1: over his career, but the family could only find seventeen.

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Speaker 2: Suddenly it all made sense.

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Speaker 1: It was just one of a myriad of stories shared

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Speaker 1: by friends and colleagues and strangers and fans. Sam Newman

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Speaker 1: reminded me of the famous Mister Anonymous speech written by

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Speaker 1: Paul Keyes and delivered by Richard Burton in nineteen eighty

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Speaker 1: three in paying tribute to Frank Sinatra, another giant of

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Speaker 1: show business. I feel it articulates perfectly the essence of

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Speaker 1: Burt Newsom. Newton said a paraphrase, Bert was a giant

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Speaker 1: among the givers of the world. He stands tallest. He

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Speaker 1: has more than paid rent for the space he occupied

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Speaker 1: on this planet. Forged as he is from loyalty and compassion,

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Speaker 1: carefully hidden, hidden, because he ordered it. I appear as

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Speaker 1: the herald of grateful multitudes who have opened those unexpected envelopes,

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Speaker 1: special delivering answers to prayers, those awakened by late night

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Speaker 1: phone calls which remedied their problems, Those performers, business people, politicians,

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Speaker 1: and the sick down on their luck who suddenly landed

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Speaker 1: the role they never expected and still don't know who

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Speaker 1: to think and for untold beneficiaries of the caring and

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Speaker 1: kindness of this splendid man who truly was his brother's keeper.

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Speaker 1: And they are legiant, those whose lives took a turn

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Speaker 1: for the better because of this man. But it was

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Speaker 1: such a legend that to be even acknowledged by him

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Speaker 1: was to feel like he had made it. When he

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Speaker 1: named his two pay Eddie, he said, at the time

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Speaker 1: I was on everything else, I may as well be

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Speaker 1: on his head. I was honored and gratified, first that

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Speaker 1: he knew who I was, Second, because I'd become part

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Speaker 1: of his act. But thirdly it was pure burt, a punchline,

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Speaker 1: a laugh, but a nod of support to his colleagues.

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Speaker 1: We've heard of people getting a segment on his shows,

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Speaker 1: the note of congratulations, a phone call, a text on

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Speaker 1: your best day, but more importantly on your words, because.

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Speaker 2: Bert knew both.

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Speaker 1: Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar, that's common proof that lowliness

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Speaker 1: is young ambition's ladder. Where to the climber upward turns

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Speaker 1: his face, but when he attains the upmust round. He

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Speaker 1: then turns his back, looks in the clouds, scorning the

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Speaker 1: base degrees by which he did ascend. The first part

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Speaker 1: is pure Bert. The second is the antithesis. For Bert

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Speaker 1: never turned his back on his people. He sent them up,

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Speaker 1: he understood them, but he was always there for them,

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Speaker 1: and he never left them. But lowliness was his young

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Speaker 1: ambition's ladder. When Bert was a boy, having lost his

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Speaker 1: father at age eleven, the Victroy of the nineteen forties

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Speaker 1: and fifties was a far cry from the hipster headquarters

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Speaker 1: that it is today. It was one of the toughest

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Speaker 1: parts of the country. It was a notorious slum. So

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Speaker 1: fired by his imagination of what could be, inspired by

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Speaker 1: the Maris brothers who saw something in this year seven

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Speaker 1: boy who had a knack for radio plays that he

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Speaker 1: walked from his family home to the city, down the

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Speaker 1: very streets outside this cathedral as a fourteen.

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Speaker 2: Year old to three x y.

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Speaker 1: One year later, he was on air, self taught, self driven.

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Speaker 1: What he missed in the classroom, he learnt in the

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Speaker 1: arena of life, elocution, diction, general knowledge, music, paneling, timing, vaudeville,

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Speaker 1: how to adapt in a fast changing world, to interview.

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Speaker 2: How to perform.

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Speaker 1: He cut his twenty first cake on television and stayed

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Speaker 1: there for his entire life. At eighty four, he was

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Speaker 1: still making headlines with posts on Instagram from his hospital bed.

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Speaker 1: Bert never stopped evolving, never stopped learning, never lost his

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Speaker 1: insatiable appetite for what's new.

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Speaker 2: He was the least jaded old fashioned.

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Speaker 1: Performer you would ever meet, probably the first performer poach

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Speaker 1: by Channel nine from seven. His partnerships have been the

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Speaker 1: most successful and enduring in Australian television history. With Graham Kennedy,

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Speaker 1: they lit up the small screen and would then do

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Speaker 1: an on core performance the very next day on the radio.

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Speaker 1: Bert the perfect foil for the genius of Kennedy, never

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Speaker 1: there to upstage, always to deliver later it would be

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Speaker 1: Don Lane live.

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Speaker 2: Crosses to the world Bert's will.

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Speaker 1: Always there was this sense of adventure, Ashaunda Kayla said,

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Speaker 1: waiting for the Burt moment that would be the talk

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Speaker 1: of the school, in the workplace the next day. That

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Speaker 1: sense of danger excitement in a suburban Australia, but also

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Speaker 1: for us, that sense of pride as we watched our

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Speaker 1: Burt match it with the best. To watch Bert with

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Speaker 1: the likes of Sammy Davis Junior and Demie Reynolds was

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Speaker 1: to watch kindred spirits, riffing it out live on TV, unrehearsed, unrestricted,

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Speaker 1: and hilarious. In a business known for its enmity and jealousies,

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Speaker 1: there was no fluke that Graham was best man at

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Speaker 1: Burton Patty's Winning the Dawn. On winning his gold LOGI

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Speaker 1: memorably said, six months at your house, six months at

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Speaker 1: mind Poe. To watch Burt in his natural habitat at

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Speaker 1: the Logies was a television highlight of the year. How

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Speaker 1: he'd glide onto that stage, moving like a dancer, his

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Speaker 1: newly cut suit, as he would describe it, his patent

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Speaker 1: leather pumps, with that air of I know you've seen

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Speaker 1: all the stars and externight.

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Speaker 2: But get ready for this. That mildily immune used grin on.

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Speaker 1: His face as he read it himself to bring the

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Speaker 1: house down again alongside Bob Hope, John Wayne or Anebriate

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Speaker 1: at Barren Starrett made no difference. Bert either made a

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Speaker 1: performance great or saved the day. As we saw a

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Speaker 1: moment ago. His celebrated sparring with Muhammad Ali was made

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Speaker 1: even more memorable in hindsight by not the so called

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Speaker 1: faux pas, but by the way h Lee realized there

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Speaker 1: was nothing sinister that Bert was a good man, the

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Speaker 1: greatest new greatness when he saw it. But it wasn't

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Speaker 1: just the superstars. Thats by Bert's work. He never missed

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Speaker 1: an opportunity. R Lee was one thing. Belvedere and Moira

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Speaker 1: my Lay became household names. Max Morrison, Peter Fame and

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Speaker 1: Peter Wynne, his great friends, Pete Smith and Phil Brady.

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Speaker 1: When you were part of Bert's crew, you were there

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Speaker 1: Forever Burton carried so many. Hugh Jackman said, by watching Bert,

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Speaker 1: I learned how to handle the spotlight with Grace's dignity,

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Speaker 1: honor and class.

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Speaker 2: Rove McManis said I lost a mentor and a friend.

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Speaker 1: Our country lost an icon, but most importantly, a family

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Speaker 1: has lost their hero and soulmate. Ronder Birchmore spoke of

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Speaker 1: Bert being there always with encouragement. Paul Hogan said he

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Speaker 1: was mister Television. Never took himself seriously, but took his

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Speaker 1: job seriously. Philip Adams wrote, Bert is the electronic friend.

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Speaker 1: He's there when you want or need him. Bert his company,

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Speaker 1: Russell Crowe. Burt's not about fashion or trends. He's watched

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Speaker 1: them all come and go. He's about intellect. He's about

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Speaker 1: wisdom born of experience. My life is richer having him

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Speaker 1: as a mate. General NAR's Michael Hilly said Bert was

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Speaker 1: a star and Jane Kennedy. Bert would always support new talent,

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Speaker 1: was up for the gag. He wanted you to succeed.

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Speaker 1: New faces may have been his show, but behind the

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Speaker 1: scenes Berth lived its ethos so vleis Albert who turned

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Speaker 1: a piano factory in Richmond into television, sitting the first

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Speaker 1: Melvernion to become the King of Momber. When the marquise dimmed,

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Speaker 1: it was Bert who helped relaunch theater in this town.

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Speaker 1: He was a star on the wireless and ran the

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Speaker 1: first sports based radio station. He loved his foot in

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Speaker 1: his beloved Fitzroy and his horses. Fittingly passing on Derby Day,

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Speaker 1: the day of the champions he sang, it's time he

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Speaker 1: looked forward, not back.

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Speaker 2: In passing.

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Speaker 1: He has been recognized by the Prime Minister, afforded a

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Speaker 1: state funeral by his beloved Victoria, with the flag of

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Speaker 1: his country draped on his coffin, which Patty said he

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Speaker 1: would have loved the other consonant in his life, his

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Speaker 1: Catholic faith. His funeral here Sir Patrick's Cathedral. Last night,

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Speaker 1: the theaters of Melbourne dimmed their lights in Bert Newton's

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Speaker 1: honor seventy years ago. Could that young boy have dreamt

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Speaker 1: of what was in front of him? And while there

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Speaker 1: was Burton Graham and Burton Don, there was nothing like

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Speaker 1: Burton Paddy.

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Speaker 2: What a combination.

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Speaker 1: Paddy, you shared your husband with us, all your highs

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Speaker 1: and your lows, your family, Matthew and Lauren, your grandchildren

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Speaker 1: who filled Burt's last few years with love and joy.

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Speaker 1: There would always have been a Burt, but he was

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Speaker 1: enhanced so much by his Paddy. Whether the Gold LOGI

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Speaker 1: becomes the Burt Newton Award or a theater or similarly

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Speaker 1: named in his honor, show business and this city will

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Speaker 1: never be the same. The young boy from Fitzroy who

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Speaker 1: became a star, then alleged, then an institution, and now

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Speaker 1: our greatest memory of the golden years of television Forever

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Speaker 1: Albers